As the coronavirus crisis intensifies, first responders continue making changes to protect both patients and themselves. Emergency medical service crews in the cities of Roanoke and Salem, as well as Botetourt County, are now using protective tents on patients who need oxygen. The mini-isolettes help contain respiratory droplets that could carry the coronavirus within the plastic.
- PUB DATE: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSLS-TV NBC 10 Roanoke

A new app from Stanford Medicine built with Apple’s help will help connect firefighters, police officers and paramedics in California to drive-through COVID-19 testing if they are showing symptoms of the coronavirus. Here’s how it works: Users take a survey with questions about their symptoms. If they have symptoms suggesting COVID-19 infection, the app recommends testing.
- PUB DATE: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNBC

VIDEO: As confirmed coronavirus cases within DC Fire and EMS continue to climb, the department is taking new steps to protect its firefighters and paramedics on the front lines. That means ambulances and crews must undergo a three hour decontamination every time they respond to a call involving a patient with symptoms of the virus.
- PUB DATE: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJLA-TV ABC 7 Washington DC

Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, residents of hard-hit New York City have been talking about ambulance sirens and how the wailing never seems to stop. They're not imagining things — but the reality is even grimmer than some may have guessed. A huge number of those ambulances are responding to fatal or near-fatal heart attacks suffered by New Yorkers whose true health issue may be COVID-19, the disease associated with the coronavirus.
- PUB DATE: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News

VIDEO: For first responders, one of the greatest fears during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is bringing the virus home to their families. A Metro Detroit company is building decontamination units to place in the middle of fire stations to ease those concerns. Patrick and Zoe Kintz, from Great Lakes Remediation first offered to build decontamination tents for a friend -- Southfield firefighter Jamie Rakestraw and his wife, Andrea.
- PUB DATE: 4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Click on Detroit

Anderson County Commissioner Tim Isbel from Rocky Top has reportedly designed and is working on constructing and distributing new full face covering helmets for first responders in the county. Isbel explained these helmets are a way to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. He said they’ve been approved by Anderson County Emergency Medical Services (EMS), as well the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.
- PUB DATE: 4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Oak Ridger

As more than 1,300 New York City first responders return to work after recovering from the novel coronavirus or calling out sick with symptoms of the virus, they're responding to a rapid increase in 911 calls for cardiac arrest, the FDNY said on Tuesday. The city's firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMT) are responding to "a record numbers of calls, and they continue to meet this unprecedented challenge head on,” said Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro.
- PUB DATE: 4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

Cash-strapped and empty hotels across the country are finding ways to keep the lights on by converting themselves into coronavirus wards or temporary housing for the National Guard or exhausted doctors and nurses. It provides some much needed revenue for an industry that’s been brought to its knees by the COVID-19 outbreak that’s spread to more than 1.
- PUB DATE: 4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNBC

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage populations around the world, with more than 1.3 million cases confirmed, millions more people are self-quarantining at home in a global effort to check the virus' spread. And still, a rare breed of people selflessly go about their daily lives, offering aid to those infected and helping maintain a sense of order while the rest of us shelter in place.
- PUB DATE: 4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNET

At least 5,000 firefighters across the U.S. are under quarantine because of the coronavirus, an official with the International Association of Fire Fighters union told Hill.TV on Monday. Jim Brinkley, the union’s assistant to general president of technical assistance, said on Hill.TV’s “Rising” that the number is likely higher due to “severe underreporting.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Hill

The International Association of Fire Fighters has released a tracking tool that shows which fire departments have reported exposure to COVID-19 or have had employees test positive with the virus. Firefighters respond to patients who could be infected with coronavirus every day. “The same way we do going into a fire while people are running out of it, we are running into people’s homes who may have contracted coronavirus,” said Tom Malone, president of the Memphis Fire Fighters Association.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMC-TV NBC 5 Memphis

An innovative way of spray sanitizing is being put to good use by local emergency departments and Lawrence County Housing Authority apartment units during the coronavirus epidemic. They have the Shenango Area Fire District and the New Castle Fire Department to thank for the extra layers of protection, using the devices they built that are being used to disinfect surroundings.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Castle News

City governments are facing a difficult reality right now as the coronavirus pandemic has led to a revenue shortfall. In Tukwila, wage cuts are being considered. According to Rachel Bianchi, Tukwila's Deputy City Administrator, no decisions about wage reductions have been made yet. However, the firefighters union said they have already seen reduced staffing levels and they call it unacceptable.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

A coalition of unions representing healthcare workers and first responders is calling on the D.C. government to take a more aggressive approach on coronavirus testing. The organizations fear doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare workers will be unable to treat patients if too many of them get sick.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WUSA-TV CBS 9 Washington, DC

The virus did not creep toward San Jose firefighters. It lurked among them. It was March 6, a week after the country’s first community-transmitted COVID-19 case at a Vacaville hospital. Exposure to the virus remained largely linked to overseas travel. California’s case count had just scraped triple-digits.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

New York City paramedics and emergency medical technicians must wear medical-grade face masks while treating any patient during the coronavirus outbreak, FDNY honchos have announced. The FDNY last month said first responders should only wear N95 respirator masks while performing up-close “aerosol-generating” procedures like CPR, but remain unmasked during less critical jobs.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

As the coronavirus continues to spread and send many patients to the hospital, ambulance crews are balancing a thorough disinfection process with getting back on the road as quickly as possible. It’s a situation that has led to an uptick in business for cleaning and restoration companies that have a specialized disinfection process in their repertoire, such as Pittsburgh-based G.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Starting next week, city workers on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic in Carmel, Indiana will be tested weekly for the virus. In the first week, the city of about 100,000 people just north of Indianapolis expects to test about 350 police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel, as well as city staffers who still have to physically show up to work, like those in charge of code enforcement on construction sites and sewer utility workers.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Route Fifty

VIDEO: A fire that spread across 15 acres destroyed more than 3,500 rental cars at the rental car overflow area of Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) on Friday, Lee County Port Authority said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. It drew a response from every Lee County fire department with assistance from aviation and fire departments in neighboring Collier and Charlotte counties.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WINK-TV CBS 11 Fort Myers

As the U.S. continues to combat the coronavirus outbreak, the New England Patriots’ airplane is being used to help aid the country in its response to the pandemic. The Patriots’ team plane departed early Wednesday morning from Shenzen, China, where the Boeing 767 had picked up 1.2 million N95 face masks to bring them back to the United States, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
- PUB DATE: 4/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Republican - MassLive.com